▶Resource Efficiency

▶Economic Vitality

▶Transport, Movement & Connectivity

▶Social, Cultural & Heritage

▶Climate Change & Natural Hazards

▶Environmental Quality

▶Vision

The vision of the Waterfront Auckland Sustainable Development Framework is to be the leading location of sustainable urban transformation and renewal in Auckland and across New Zealand.

Sustainability does not mean business as usual. Sustainability is a journey from transition to transformation. For us at Waterfront Auckland, sustainability is not a prescriptive or constraining concept; rather, it is something that can stimulate creativity and innovative partnerships that result in dynamic, beautiful, sustainable communities.

Wynyard Quarter Smart is our way of sharing progress with implementing sustainability. Over time, as Wynyard Quarter continues to grow and develop, so will the richness of data on this website.

Resource Efficiency

The world's population is continually growing and resource depletion and scarcity is a significant challenge.

It is estimated that the developed world is currently consuming resources at a rate that would require three planets to sustain us. Recognition of the scale of the problem has led to an international drive towards improving resource use efficiency, with a goal to return to 'one planet' living. Making more efficient use of resources will ensure that we do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. In the short term, improved resource efficiency will have economic as well as environmental benefits. Read more

Achieving Resource Efficiency

The redevelopment of the waterfront is an opportunity to leverage the inherent sustainability benefits of a central city, brownfield site and demonstrate low carbon, sustainable development. In delivering the waterfront redevelopment we are addressing resource efficiency mainly by focusing on the design of buildings to ensure they are low carbon, energy and water efficient and built with carefully selected materials.

One of the mechanisms we have to ensure that our development partners help us deliver on the resource efficiency targets is through the Wynyard Central Sustainability Standards - these standards are an essential outcome in the contractual relationship between Waterfront Auckland and the developers. We also use these Sustainability Standards as our checklist when reviewing all the designs.

To help set the targets for resource efficiency and to identify how the targets could be met, we got some clever people to do some detailed precinct sustainability performance analysis.

Economic Vitality

A successful waterfront needs to have a strong, distinct and diverse employment base that adds to the city and region's economic vitality.

Historically, the waterfront has been a major driver of Auckland's economic growth and this role is expected to continue into the future, with a mix of business services, retail, food and beverage, marine and fishing, cruise industry, tourism and event, and construction contributing an estimated $4.29 billion to Auckland's economy.

Transport, Movement & Connectivity

It could be said that transitioning to more sustainable methods of transport is one of both our biggest opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of development at Wynyard Quarter, but it also poses one of biggest challenges in terms of behavioural change.

We want to see at least 70% of trips to Wynyard Quarter during peak hours to be by sustainable transport - which to us means walking, cycling and using public transport. This is similar to what happens in New York, so it's possible. But it's not going to be easy - commuting patterns in Auckland are very different from those in New York and it will take a lot of hard work to help people make the transition.

Social, Cultural & Heritage

Auckland's waterfront is rich in culture and heritage and as its new community grows, we must ensure it is grounded in an authentic waterfront experience that respects these values.

While keeping an eye on heritage, we also know that the ideal community needs a vibrant mix of residents, workers and visitors with easy access to all the things that make a community work. Read more

We aim to be the leading example of sustainable urban transformation and renewal in Auckland and across New Zealand. As part of this aspiration, it's important to promote social wellbeing in this area through providing infrastructure and amenities, a range of housing choices and encouraging sustainable, healthy lifestyles.

We must also ensure that developments celebrate the area's diverse cultural heritage, creating a sense of place and community that occupants, residents and visitors can share. Waterfront Auckland is committed to working with iwi to find the best ways to express all aspects of the area's culture.

Minimising these and other risks associated with climate change and natural hazards is an important step in ensuring the resilience of the waterfront community and a critical element of sustainability. Underscoring how important taking action is: The storm in April 2014 caused almost $300,000 of damage to Westhaven Marina, including $200,000 to repair the harbour edge boardwalk and $20,000 to replace electrical switch gear.

Environmental Quality

Aucklanders take pride in the city's natural environment and expect clean air and water, which makes environmental quality something we need to focus on.

Development puts pressure on land and water resources and impacts on air quality. We must manage, maintain and restore the quality of our natural resources for the long-term health, wellbeing and prosperity of Aucklanders.

On the waterfront, environmental priorities are improving water quality, dealing with issues resulting from land contamination, managing stormwater, promoting biodiversity and ecological values and maintaining or improving local air quality.

Waste Management

As part of the Auckland Council family, we are guided by its aspirational target of zero waste by 2040 and we see resource efficiency as being critical in achieving this target.

So as well as wanting to see waste to landfill minimised when the buildings are occupied, we expect that:

90% of the waste created in the construction of new build projects will be reused or recycled

80% of waste from demolitions will be reused or recycled (excluding any contaminated land or hazardous material)

All developments must allow for the on-site storage of clean recyclables and non-landfill disposal of organic kitchen waste

We'd like to see the effective management of recyclables and organics (as set out in the Wynyard Central Sustainability Standards). So provisions must be made for on-site storage and collection of these materials and ideally, for organic waste disposal to be via a precinct wide waste management system. We're still evaluating the potential for such a system - meanwhile organic waste should be disposed of on-site or sent off-site (but not to landfill).

It's also important that the waste management system does not have a detrimental impact on the amenity of the area. Ideally this means smaller trucks making less trips but there is an obvious conflict between these two aspirations that will require some clever thinking. We're working closely with our development partners to find the best solution.

Demolition Waste

Waste re-used or recycled

Demolition Waste

Waste re-used or recycled

Waste to landfill

Residential

Water Efficiency

All developments are required to implement water efficiency measures like 5 star appliances and tapware and capturing rainwater for reuse in toilets, laundry and irrigation.

If these measures are adopted, we expect to reduce water demand by 13%. Grey water use has more of an impact on peak water demand and reduces the load on sewerage systems and cost of treatment, however its use is more complex in a high-density urban situation and there are regulatory barriers.

We are also asking developments to capture rainwater (data on this will be available from late 2015) and use it for toilet flushing, laundry and irrigation.

The following water efficiency standards are also required:

For residential development:

Fixtures and appliance rating minimums:

3-star WELS showerhead,

4-star WELS toilet and tapware,

5-star WELS dishwasher and washing machine

For commercial development:

Waterless or very low water use urinals and water monitoring and leak detection.

Fixtures and appliance rating minimums:

3-star WELS showerhead,

4-star WELS toilet and tapware,

5-star WELS dishwasher and washing machine

One of the first examples of capturing rainwater for reuse is the redevelopment of the Lysaght Building - we have installed a 20,000m3 rain tank to capture rainwater and have also installed meters to show what proportion of the building's water use is from rainwater.

Water Consumption

Residential

Building Design & Performance

We expect all office buildings to be a minimum standard of a 5 star Green Star rating and residential developments to be a minimum 7 star Homestar rating.

Independent building rating schemes like these are a great, objective way to verify sustainability performace and their use is well established in sustainable urban developments around the world.

We've worked with the NZ Green Building Council to produce a custom tool for the different types of buildings in Wynyard Quarter. The custom tool allows our development partners to access the benefits that come from building in a brownfield context by providing some pre-assessed credits.

We have also set ourselves a target for when the Wynyard Quarter is built-out - we want to see 10% of buildings with a 6 Green Star rating and one Living Building Challenge building. Please visit the Living Building Challenge website to see what this entails.

Another important requirement we have is for energy and water use to be monitored to ensure buildings perform as designed and allow for tuning of building systems to improve performance. The data collected will be used in the targeting of reductions and in awareness and behaviour change campaigns - a step beyond what this sort of data is usually used for.

132 Halsey33% Homestar 7 Design rating67% Homestar 8 Design rating

Performance buildings

Energy Efficiency

Using energy efficiently is really a bit of a no brainer - it saves money.

We require all developments to have a high level of energy efficiency and to have energy efficient lighting and appliances. This means:

As a minimum, installing double glazing that performs well enough to meet Green Star and Homestar requirements and energy targets

All lighting being LED or technology of equivalent or better performance

Developers providing a full appliance package of the highest energy ratings available for all residential units

Retail and other ground floor activities using energy efficient lighting and appliances

To put our aspirational targets into perspective, the most efficient buildings in New Zealand at the moment have an energy use of around 100kWh/m2/yr. We are working closely with EECA to ensure we deliver on our energy efficiency targets.

Our way of tracking progress is to start collecting and reporting performance information - so watch this space.

First cab off the rank will be the Lysaght building, with data available later in 2015.

Building Energy Efficiency

Commercial Usage

Awaiting first tenants to take residence.

(Per year)
Target

80kWh/m2

Public space energy use

We use LED smart street lights which reduce our public lighting footprint by at least 40%.

(Reduction)
Target

40%

Building Energy Efficiency

Residential Usage

What success looks like

To measure our progress we have set a number of targets around economic vitality, covering everything from the total number of people working in Wynyard Quarter, to the number specifically working in marine-related industries, to the amount of vacant residential and commercial floor space and the level of public satisfaction with the redeveloped waterfront.

Requirements Developers Must Meet

We understand the importance of setting out our expectations early on in the development process. For us, this meant the preparation of the Wynyard Central Sustainability Standards which our development partners for Wynyard Central are required to implement.

Custodianship - Kaitiakitanga

We've learnt a lot from the Māori concept of kaitiakitanga which speaks to people's role as guardians of the land.

But that's not all - there are many expressions of Māori culture and heritage that are immensely useful to us - place names (whakapapa), public art, landscape markers (tohu), heritage buildings and vernacular architecture (taiao), narrative and storytelling (mahi toi). Landscape principles of enduring presence (ahi kā) and environmental health (mauri tū) contain much that can underpin bold responses in the urban environment.

Case Studies

Landscaping and Native Planting

Over the last three years, Ngati Whatua have helped with landscaping and native planting in Jellicoe Street and the new Daldy Street Park. We're now establishing a working partnership in which this work carries on as part of a larger custodial role for Ngati Whatua in the social and cultural development of Wynyard Quarter.

The Return of Promenading

The new Westhaven Promenade incorporates a number of heritage and Māori design elements, including:

Cultural design elements integrated into the promenade design to reflect the relationship of the promenade to significant sites and harbour landmarks.

The use of the word 'promenade' was purposefully chosen to resurrect the activities from nearly a century ago when Aucklanders would promenade at St Mary's Bay. The formal dress code has changed to more sporty attire but the new infrastructure is a nod to promenading along the waterfront.

Māori whakatauki (proverbs) and waka stories are integrated within the concrete terrace steps, and land-sea fauna can be found around St Mary's Bay.

The St Mary's Bay 'smashed concrete' represents a component of Māori design where land meets sea at St Mary's beach. The concrete edge is an eroded effect suggesting the forces of nature and tidal deterioration.

Celebrating the City of Many Lovers

The 'Many Lovers' installation at Queens Wharf uses the interpretation of the Māori name for Auckland - Tamaki Makaurau - to celebrate the heritage and the essence of our city through the eyes of key individuals from our past and present.

Queens Wharf and Shed 10 were considered a natural starting point for the concept and the first four stories are told in the form of installations along the western side of Shed 10. The heritage stories include tales of Edmin Mitchelson, former Mayor of Auckland, Apihai Te Kawau, former Chief of Ngati Whatua, Promenading on the wharf and the third Māori Contingent departing for war.

Over time, the concept 'Tamaki Makaurau - Many Lovers of Auckland' will encompass other waterfront sites and tell stories such as the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, the old salt-water baths at St Mary's Bay, the boat building industry on Wynyard Point and the flying-boat airport at Mechanics Bay.

Heritage

Expressing the waterfront's cultural heritage is important to Waterfront Auckland and we are always on the lookout for opportunities to do so through the redevelopment process.

We have a great track record of protecting character buildings and structures including Shed 10, the Silos and the tram tracks at North Wharf. And it's not just keeping these buildings and structures as they were - we've made a special effort to make them fit for use now and into the future.

Cultural references

Sense of Place - Turangawaewae

The waterfront is where the city of Auckland began and it has a diverse and interesting cultural history, boasting a number of important Māori, colonial and natural heritage sites and features.

It was an important area for Māori, containing numerous Pā sites due to its strategic location with hilltop vantage points and the waters of the Waitemata Harbour. Māori utilised the waterfront for fish and shellfish gathering, harvesting of crops and as a hub for trade.

Since the 1880s the waterfront has been a bustling commercial area supporting a wide range of infrastructure and industries such as flour mills, boat building, rope making, warehousing, sawmills, gas works and railways as well as numerous taverns. In more recent times the waterfront has become a hub for the marine and fishing industries, and today this provides an authentic and distinctive character, setting it apart from other locations.

Event variety

Sustainable & Healthy Lifestyles

A sustainable lifestyle is one that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources.

We're making it easier for people to live and work sustainably by designing public spaces and streets to encourage walking and cycling, providing areas to grow food locally and gather for community activities.

As the area welcomes new residents and businesses, we expect to see and will encourage the promotion of sustainable lifestyles and behaviours which will help us meet our resource efficiency and transport targets. We also expect developments to facilitate sustainable and healthy lifestyles by minimising exposure to toxins and pollutants during the design and construction process and by careful choice of materials.

We want residents and local businesses to be very proud of the precinct, not just for its location, beauty and urban vibrancy, but also for their contribution to a more sustainable future.

Housing Choice

Housing in Wynyard Quarter will come in many different types and sizes, with varying price points.

The next 10 years will see 600-800 new apartments, townhouses and terraced buildings which will house 1000-1500 people. And thanks to the standards we've put in place for urban design and sustainability these homes will be exemplars of high-density residential design. This will be the first urban neighbourhood where all homes meet the HomeStar 7 rating, making them warmer, healthier and cheaper to live in.

Because the vast majority of housing in the CBD and Viaduct comprises studios or 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, we are aiming to satisfy a gap in the market by making 20-25% of homes in Wynyard Quarter 3+ bedrooms.

We are working closely with our residential development partner, Willis Bond and Co, to ensure we deliver on our aspirations. The first apartments are being designed now and will be a mix of one, two, three and five bedroom, falling into four distinct types. Buildings on the East 2 site - Daldy Pavilions, Pakenham Mews, Artisan Apartments - will fall into three distinct types and Site 7 ( 132 Halsey St) will see a building with four distinct types.

Apartments with 3+ bedrooms

26.5%

Social Infrastructure & Amenities

We've made a great start with the facilities we've already provided and there's more to come.

Silo Park's playground, the basketball court and the Daldy Street play tanks and slides are already much loved by Aucklanders and the many visitors from elsewhere.

The area around Wynyard Quarter is also well served by community facilities, including parks and playgrounds, marinas, public transport, restaurants and bars, swimming pools, a library, and information kiosks.

Every thriving community needs things like creches, superettes, medical services, a gym and a community centre as well as cafes, bars and restaurants and ideally a successful local retail precinct. As the area develops, we will work with our development partners and local businesses to try and ensure a good mix of amenities, with the aim of creating a vibrant community on Auckland's waterfront. Our targets here are all about how people feel about the area and we'll be presenting the feedback we get from residents and occupants.

Sense of pride in local area

Adaptation

Adaptation means being well informed about the risks and impacts of climate change and pairing this knowledge with learnings gained from climate science to find responses to challenges posed by climate change.

Whilst we understand the need for mitigation, we also accept that we need to adapt to the changes that are coming. It's an active process that informs the way we operate and the choices we make in redeveloping the waterfront.

A significant achievement for us has been the development and adoption of the Climate Change Adaptation Pathway. It documents what is known now about the potential risks and the adaptation responses already being implemented and sets out what is required for us to operate successfully in the dynamic and continuously evolving environment that characterises climate change. It shows that we take the issue seriously and will continue to look for ways to make sure we are responding to the potential impacts.

We have also clearly set out what we expect from our development partners in response to the potential risks of a changing climate. Our private sector partners will:

Adopt resilient design principles and be adaptable to predicted climate effects including more severe and frequent weather events, predicted sea level rise and the associated potential rise in the water table. This involves consideration of risk and resilience to both flooding and drought.

Design residential and non-residential buildings to ensure the comfort of their occupants in a future climate that may be warmer.

Adopt a low impact urban design and development approach.

Incorporate shade, shelter and green space in their designs for the public realm.

We also hold them to a thorough and comprehensive list of standards that we believe need to be met, covering everything from provision of emergency power to ensuring that buildings have waterproof basement pumping stations to deal with possible flooding. For example:

Buildings will be designed to be wet-proof and incorporate resilient design principles to ensure adaptability to changes in future climate and aid recovery from any flooding at ground or basement levels.

We will document the various adaptation methods implemented and keep you up to date with what we're doing.

Climate Change Adaptation Pathway

It documents what is known now about the potential risks and the adaptation responses already being implemented and sets out what is required for us to operate successfully in the dynamic and continuously evolving environment that characterises climate change. It shows that we take the issue seriously and will continue to look for ways to make sure we are responding to the potential impacts.

For instance, we have set ourselves a series of targets for renewable energy generation:

Initial: 5% from on-site sources

10-year target: 10% from on-site sources

30-year target: 30% from on-site sources

We don't have any renewable energy generation at Wynyard Quarter quite yet - so how about checking out what is happening at the Shed 10 PV array.

We'll keep you posted on how well we're doing against these targets. For instance, based on the modelling done for us by Kinesis, in a bid to mitigate the causes of climate change, we have set ourselves targets in relation to high performance buildings and sustainable transport and you can track these in the Resource Efficiency and Transport, Movement and Connectivity areas of this site.

CO2 gas emissions: Annual progress updates will be available commencing end of June 2016.

Renewable energy generation

Energy generation
From on-site sources

Initial

5%

10 years

10%

30 years

30%

(30 year)
Target

30%

Reduced CO2 emissions

Risks the Waterfront Faces

As we proceed with the redevelopment of Auckland's waterfront and continue with the task of managing some major assets, the potential impacts of a changing climate are an issue of strategic significance.

This is true both in our current projects and operations and into the future. Some of the risks we have to plan for on the waterfront are:

Damage to overhead infrastructure from high winds and lightning strikes

Impact on operation of ground floor activities

Intensification of waves in the marina

Insurance and economic impacts including administrative costs of insurance claims, increased cost of reinsurance, lost marina revenue and damaged reputation.

Damage on this scale would be terrible, especially after all the work that has gone into revitalising Auckland's waterfront. So climate change is an issue that we take very seriously indeed. Our response to this challenge is on two fronts: Mitigation of the causes and adaptation to a changing world.

Our Approach to Tackling Climate Change

At the waterfront we are tackling the challenge of climate change by focusing on both mitigation and adaptation.

Mitigation is about limiting and slowing down future climate change by reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases into the environment

Adaptation is taking steps to ensure that we are able to adapt to the changes to the climate already occurring and projected to occur.

Air Quality

The main issue affecting waterfront air quality is the emission of sulphur dioxide from ships using bunker fuel. Auckland Council is keen to see these emissions decrease and we'll do what we can to help.

The Council is carrying out work on the logistics of switching ships to cleaner fuel and we're keenly awaiting any information about possible solutions they come up with.

The other air quality issues affecting the waterfront are emissions from transport and industry. Here too work is being done to combat these issues. Industrial emissions from boat building and repair operations are controlled by rules in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. Transport emissions are not controlled by council and will be best dealt with by transport planning approaches like managing travel demand and government legislation on fuels and the types, ages and condition of vehicles allowed on our roads.

Council already has a pretty comprehensive region-wide air quality monitoring programme that covers a range of urban, industrial and rural sites – each chosen to be reflective of a particular land use type. So we are working together to design an appropriate monitoring programme for Wynyard Quarter.

We're also sure that our focus on sustainable transport will make a difference to air quality, as opposed to other areas where transport relies mainly on private motor vehicles. We also encourage the use of electric vehicles and will push for including the infrastructure to support them in private developments and on public land.

Air quality

Work in Progress

Stormwater Treatment

One area where we can make a significant difference is in the treatment of stormwater and this has been a big focus of the projects we've delivered on the waterfront so far.

Waterfront Auckland has adopted a low impact design approach that makes extensive use of swales (specially created moist or marshy land) and rain gardens to filter stormwater before it reaches the sea - as seen on Jellicoe, Daldy and Halsey Streets.

Not only do they do a good job of removing suspended solids from stormwater but they also support biodiversity and contribute to the beautiful look and feel of the streets that have them - Jellicoe, Daldy and Halsey. These streetscapes look good AND do good, and we're very proud of them.

Stormwater

Remediation of contaminated land

Wynyard Quarter's significant industrial heritage has meant that some of the land here has been contaminated by chemicals and fuel products. We're taking steps to remedy this situation.

Wynyard Quarter has a variety of in ground contamination conditions, whilst remedial solutions are planned for these on a project wide basis, specific methodologies are adopted on a site by site basis as specific site circumstances are identified. These methodologies are measured against best practice solutions identified in the overall remediation strategy for Wynyard Quarter contamination management.

The underlying design philosophy in relation to contamination is to provide separation between contaminated material and the new urban realm, this is generally achieved by impervious paving (eg. concrete) in hard finish areas. In soft finish areas such as gardens and lawn areas, separation is achieved by the placement of intermediate layers over the contamination such as concrete or clay. The completed construction provides that there is no physical connection between contaminated areas and the finished urban realm.

The majority of the contaminants are hydrocarbons and their management is made complex because of the high water table and proximity to the adjacent coastal environment. The construction methodology adopted is mudcreting any material which needs to be disturbed, this process involves mixing the existing ground with cement to form a weak concrete and this leaves the hydrocarbon contamination inert. The introduction of these solid areas of ground also reduce the ability for the hydrocarbon contamination to move around the area with groundwater movement which is ongoing due to tidal influence.

Isolated areas of other forms of contamination are generally encapsulated and removed from site unless specific circumstances present a more desirable solution.

Biodiversity & Ecology

While our aims with Wynyard Quarter are to develop an intensive, vibrant, and urban mixed use precinct, we need to take advantage of opportunities to enhance ecological values, support biodiversity, and recreate habitats through the development projects.

From day one, biodiversity has been actively built into all our infrastructure projects, whether it's Jellicoe Street's rain gardens and wetlands or the Daldy and Halsey Street rain gardens. We've also made it integral to the next phase of street upgrades including Pakenham and Madden Streets.

Honourable mention must be made here of Ngati Whatua who have played a key role in advising us on plantings and also provided seed stock from their nearby nursery.

It's vital that we're aware of and seize as many opportunities as possible to improve biodiversity and ecology. We commissioned a report in 2013 which will help us do just that - read it here.

The Sustainable Development Framework specifies a target for publicly accessible open space in Wynyard Quarter. Biodiversity is integral to the quality of this open space, so it's something we have chosen to track here.

Public open space

Wynyard Quarter

Water Quality

The Waitemata Harbour is in huge demand, both for transport and for recreational activities like boating and fishing. As such, improving water quality is a key part of the Waterfront Plan and something that remains of great importance to Iwi.

A major challenge is the fact that many of the factors affecting water quality are things that Waterfront Auckland has limited control over - runoff from roads, wastewater overflow, among others. However, we know from the process of creating the Waterfront Plan that people want to fish, swim, and enjoy their harbour and we are working to find the most effective role we can play in improving water quality so they can do so safely.

Aside from our efforts, we’re also keenly watching other water quality improvement initiatives like Watercare’s waterfront interceptor (which aims to reduce spills from the 50 overflow points in Grey Lynn and the waterfront suburbs). We’re also involved in the Sea Change project - Tai Timu Tai Pari - a partnership involving mana whenua, central and local government that aims to improve and safeguard our treasured water quality. Find out about it here.

Water quality

Work in Progress

Beautiful. Dynamic. Sustainable.

Wynyard Quarter Smart aims to stimulate creativity and innovative partnerships that result in dynamic, beautiful and sustainable communities. Discover how we are tracking our progress towards a sustainable tomorrow. As Wynyard Quarter continues to grow and develop, so will the richness of data on this website.

Number of pedestrians

Number of cyclists

* We collect this data in real-time through sensors placed in the Quarter. A bike counts as any small vehicle such as a motorbike, golf cart and a very small car like a smart car. A Car is small vehicle such as a mini to small truck/Van/Minivan size and Large Vehicle is large truck and/or a Bus.